Young Woman with Fan

Here Rubens was copying a painting by Titian, of which there were apparently several versions. Alongside the painting by the Venetian artist, today in Dresden, there must have been another Titian, now lost, that served Rubens as a model and that Anthony Van Dyck preserved in his Italian sketchbook. With a high degree of sensitivity Rubens created a variation on the work of his great predecessor by placing the young woman closer to the viewer and thus making her seem closer to life as well.